Posted on 01/08/2014 6:10:44 AM PST by C19fan
One of the reasons I am a Conservative is that, in the end, I just can’t stand the intellectual dishonesty of the Left. In my late teens I found I had come to hate the way Lefties always seemed to be trying to cover up embarrassing facts about human nature, or to refuse to express simple truths – and I disliked the pious way in which they took offence, and tried to shoosh you into silence, if you blurted such a truth. Let me give you a current example of this type of proposition. It is a sad but undeniable fact that the First World War – in all its murderous horror – was overwhelmingly the result of German expansionism and aggression. That is a truism that has recently been restated by Max Hastings, in an excellent book, and that has been echoed by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary. I believe that analysis to be basically correct, and that it is all the more important, in this centenary year, that we remember it.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Germany?
Did this person ever read a history book on that war?
The Reagan years
“Don’t mention the war.”
I'm always suspicious of anyone who uses the phrase "undeniable fact". Because that's a clever little way of saying "no debate will be permitted."
In the Dark Ages of the Middle Ages, people were ignorant because of lack of education.
In the coming Dark Ages, people will be ignorant because of education.
As Boris says: those powers - the 'Axis' powers - didn't go to war because of the assassination of the Arch-Duke. They went to war because they believed that they were going to gain control of Europe.
The Austro-Hungarian empire seized on the death of the ArchDuke as a pretext, and gave an almost impossible ultimatum to Serbia.
Serbia promptly accepted 90% of their terms. They accepted all the terms that they could possibly accept and still maintain sovereign control over their own army. Austro-Hungary had saved face - there was no sense in which the Axis powers were backed into a corner.
However peace simply wouldn't do. The Axis powers wanted war because they believed - not unreasonably - that they were going to win it. They had a very precise, war-winning plan - the Schlieffen plan - and they meant to use it.
WW1 was a war of territorial aggrandizement launched by the German Confederation and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They could have had peace, but they wanted war.
We are often told that WW1 began because of a comparatively trivial assassination - but this is not true. World War One was a horribly sincere war of oppression.
Hope this is helpful.
Just sent it to my brother who is a docent at the WW1 museum.
Of course, Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan--the good guys--had no desire to expand their empires. None whatsoever.
Read this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Guns-August-Pulitzer-Prize-Winning/dp/0345476093/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389191245&sr=8-1&keywords=the+guns+of+august
You mean, like the Treaty of Versialles?
I went to Austria some years ago, BEAUTIFUL country. At an attempt of humor, our guide, a very sweet dingbat said: "We keep trying to convince the world that Hitler was German and Beethoven was Austrian. Hahaha."
I didn't that was funny at all.
How dare the Germans resist the peaceful British Empire.
The Axis powers were the adherents of the Three-Power Pact--the "Axis Pact"--of 1940.
War has not solved anything so why do they try to blame someone on starting war and ignore finding solutions to stop wars?
Sometimes bullies want your lunch money. You can give it to them or you can bust a cap in their head, sending a message to other bullies.
World War One began when Germany invaded Belgium and Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia.
Nobody forced them to invade these countries. They invaded them because they expected to seize control of large parts of Europe.
It’s interesting that - even as their Uhlans were raping and burning their way across Belgium - the German propaganda machine relied on much the same rhetoric that you’ve chosen to use.
Right you are. In the Great War, Germany and its allies were called the Central Powers.
Darryl Bates: What started it?
Col. Andy Tanner: I don’t know. Two toughest kids on the block, I guess. Sooner or later, they’re gonna fight.
The Germans were the aggressors in World War One.
World War One began when Germany invaded Belgium and Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia.
Germany invaded Belgium - not only taking over a sovereign country (and committing vile atrocities against the populace) but also taking control of Antwerp and the Scheldt.
Britain guaranteed Belgian neutrality not only to curb Prussian and French territorial ambitions but to protect the Scheldt - a deep water port close to Britain that could be used to launch an invasion.
The German Confederation reneged on the Treaty of London when they invaded Belgium and brutalized its people. That vicious land-grab (along with the Austro-Hungarian attack on Serbia) was the real start of WW1.
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